


Kissing In The Street

by akamine_chan



Series: In Time [3]
Category: Torchwood, due South
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Podfic Available, Science Fiction, Turtle!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-09-15
Updated: 2008-09-15
Packaged: 2017-10-02 08:34:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akamine_chan/pseuds/akamine_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack and Ianto run into a strange visitor from the Rift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kissing In The Street

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd. Title sorta swiped from Jeffrey Foucault. Written in a brand new fandom. Surprise guest star. Written for Love_Jackianto's birthday

Ianto had been tired. Exhausted, worn-out, so weary that every part of his body ached with fatigue. It had been Gwen's threat of drugging him and letting him sleep where he fell that had made him stagger off to his own bed.

Still annoyed at being trumped by Gwen, Ianto had shrugged off Jack's offer of a ride and had called for a taxi.

He'd gotten to his apartment, struggled out of his clothes and fallen onto his bed, rolling the blanket around himself and slipping into a deep, dreamless sleep.

When his cell phone rang, a little over an hour later, he was instantly awake again. "'lo?"

"We got it!"

It took Ianto a moment to identify the unnaturally cheerful voice on the other end. "Sir?" He sat up and rubbed blearily at his eyes, trying to make sense of Jack's words.

"It tripped the switch and the containment field caught it, just like Tosh said it would," Jack crowed.

Oh. The Rift-traps they set. _Something_ had been zipping in and out of the Rift at high velocities. They had only found out about it because it kept setting off the Rift-activity sensors—whatever _it_ was, it was keeping a very low profile. No public exposure, no unexplainable experiences, no people fleeing in a panic. Just _something_ triggering alarms all over the Hub and leaving behind Rift-activity hot-spots where the dimensional energies had been slightly warped.

They'd been out several times in response to the alarms, easily tracking down the exact locations of the Rift disturbances, but all they'd ever found were odd bits and trinkets— an antique silver necklace, a seashell, a torn square of red fabric, some tufts of dog fur, a pile of lettuce.

Jack had been concerned, but had pretended not to be, which had scared Ianto. If it was bad enough to worry Jack, who was so much more than he seemed...

"I'll be right in, sir."

"Oh, no, no, Ianto. Stay home. Get some more rest. It'll keep until later..."

He sighed. There was no way he was going to be able to get back to sleep now, no matter how hard he tried. Besides, he was curious about whatever it was that had been dashing in and out of the Rift with impunity. "I'll be in, sir," he repeated and hung up.

* * *

It took him close to forty-five minutes to get back to the Hub. A quick splash of cold water on his face, some clean clothes and a quick comb-through of his hair and he was almost as good as new.

Except for his eyes, which were bloodshot and swollen, with deep, dark smudges under them. It looked like he hadn't had a good night sleep in days, which he realized suddenly, was true. He shrugged at his somewhat wan reflection in the mirror and left to see what they'd caught in their nets.

* * *

Ianto paused before activating the rolling door, taking a moment to adjust his tie and straighten his jacket. He picked at some lint on his sleeve and then corrected his posture. There was no reason to slouch, no matter how tired he was. When he was sure he was presentable, he opened the door and walked into the Hub.

He'd expected chaos, but what he found instead was quiet. Everyone else was gone except Jack and he was leaning intently over a large glass box with wires and metal supports attached in a strange, almost-discernible pattern. It made Ianto's eyes _itch_ in a very particular manner, like he was seeing something he could _almost_ recognize.

“I thought I told you to stay home, Ianto.”

“I thought you'd figured out I don't follow orders very well, sir.”

Jack looked at him from over his shoulder, grinning. “Right you are, Ianto. Come have a look at what we caught.”

Ianto stepped closer and looked into the tank, squinting a little against the _itch_ and the strange glow.

“_Terrapene carolina carolina_.”

“What? It looks like a tortoise, sir.” Ianto bent over to look closer at the creature in the tank. The tortoise's shell was about 15 centimeters long, with a high, arching dome and yellow markings splattered across the back. There were faint glowing traceries outlining the plates of the shell, giving it an otherworldly appearance. A reptilian head, complete with a bony beak and red beady eyes, stared impassively at Ianto and Jack. “Well, a tortoise that's glowing a bit and looks rather pissed.” Ianto leaned even closer to look at the four-toed, clawed tortoise-feet. “And levitating.”

Jack chuckled at Ianto's very matter-of-fact tone. “It's a _Terrapene carolina carolina_, otherwise known as an Eastern Box Turtle. Not, by the way, native to Wales.”

“Of course not, sir. Tortoises native to this area don't glow or levitate,” Ianto replied distractedly.

The lights momentarily dimmed in the Hub as the luminescence from the tank grew brighter. Ianto could hear a subtle note of strain in the electrical system, an increase in the draw on the power load. “Sir?”

Jack gestured toward the tortoise. “The containment field is barely holding it. I'm having to divert power from some of the lesser systems to keep the field intact. I estimate we've got another fifteen minutes before the system starts to overload.”

“And then?”

Shrugging, Jack managed to look unconcerned. “And then the field won't contain it any more.” He tapped at the glass of the tank, catching the attention of the tortoise, who watched Jack unblinkingly. “I've tried to communicate with it, but it just hissed at me.”

“No surprise,” he muttered under his breath.

If Jack heard him, he was ignoring him. “I've run some scans but the results keep coming back odd.”

“Odd, sir?” Ianto straightened and adjusted the cuff of his jacket.

“Could you drop the 'sir' bit?” Jack sounded annoyed. “We're alone and I don't think it'd kill you to use my name.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jack sighed deeply. “You are a very irritating man, Ianto Jones.” He picked up some printouts, looked at them briefly before tossing them back down on the workbench. “High concentration of Rift energies, but the time-space signatures are all reading negative. It's absorbing a lot more energy than I can comfortably explain, but isn't radiating anything back. No gamma-rays, no high-energy protons, no neutrinos, nothing. Energy goes in, nothing comes out. Except for the glow, which isn't generating any heat.” He looked thoughtful for a moment before grinning at Ianto. “Like a miniature black hole with leathery skin and a shell.”

“And an attitude,” Ianto interjected, watching the tortoise stare balefully at Jack. The lights dimmed again and the backup system stuttered on with an audible whine. “Jack? Shouldn't we do something to keep the containment field from failing?” Ianto pretended to examine the overhead lights, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

He felt the weight of Jack's gaze, confident and unworried. He met the clear blue eyes and for a brief moment was overwhelmed by a wave of anger, envying Jack for having that kind of certainty in his life. It made him _more_ than human, beyond the fact of his immortality. That surety, of having seen so much of the universe, of learning its secrets and tasting its glory—

Something must have shown on his face; the corner of Jack's mouth slipped downwards for a moment, before smoothing out into a bland smile. “Why don't you double check the wiring on the tank, make sure that nothing's worked itself loose. Tosh just slapped the tank together and really hadn't expected it to contain these kinds of...forces. I'll go downstairs and get the back-up and emergency generators up and running. Call the rest of the team in when you get a moment; I have a feeling we're going to need their help.”

“You think?” he muttered, watching Jack head deeper into the Hub. He took off his jacket and folded it carefully over a chair back, and then rolled up his sleeves before starting his examination of the tangle of wiring that meshed...strangely...with the glass and the supports.

Ianto found two stripped wires and fixed them as best he could, trying to ignore the tortoise that was watching him intently. It had moved to the end of the tank that Ianto was working on, bobbing gently on unseen currents, eyes red and unblinking. He'd just started to tighten down some screws when the hair on his arms stood straight up, the smell of ozone suddenly permeating the lab and making him sneeze.

He pulled out a clean handkerchief to blow his nose and looked up in time to see the glass walls of the containment tank _bulge_. Stepping back quickly, Ianto watched in horrified fascination as the glass belled outwards, softening and flowing in slow motion.

From a great distance, he heard Jack calling his name frantically, but all he could focus on was the glass tank and the glowing tortoise inside of it. He could feel something powerful building in the air, silent and still like the bare moments before a lightning strike. It tightened his throat and clouded his thoughts with sheer, naked terror.

He could feel that _something_ coiling, rearing back, gathering itself to spring—

With a silent _pop_, the glass exploded in a shower of hot shards, the shock wave throwing Ianto hard to the ground, knocking the breath out of him. He could still hear Jack, but his shouts were tinny and far, far away.

Ianto shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, and froze when he felt...a presence.

He hunkered down in his own mind, trying to hide from this thing that felt _old_ and terribly, unknowingly _different_. He could feel it wrapping itself around his thoughts, prying at them, pulling them free to be examined and set carefully aside. He tried to build shields around the tender, delicate parts of himself, wanting to keep them safe from whatever this _other_ was, but he couldn't keep it out. It pushed him gently away and rifled through his wants and dreams and desires. It twisted and turned his needs, feeling them, tasting them and putting them back where they lived, half-hidden from the bright light of sanity.

Ianto tried to open his eyes, wanting to end the connection between himself and the _other_, but all he could see was the red of the tortoise's eyes, unmoving and as wide as the universe, never-ending and patient. He fought, trying not to lose himself, the Ianto-ness of him, in this sea of time and silence and echoes. He was drowning, the dense, dark waters of the universe closing over his head for the last time.

He resigned himself to the dark, tired of fighting and struggling. He'd been fighting for so long, and the _other_ couldn't fully perceive him; he was too small, too insignificant to be noticed in the scheme of all things. He wanted to feel _something_ here at the end, hot anger and bitterness, but everything kept slipping numbly away from him.

He felt himself quietly gathered up and examined, the jagged, cracked pieces smoothed back into place, the _other_ tweaking and twisting and winding things together, knitting him whole. For one brief, endless second, Ianto was perfect, bright and true. He cuddled that feeling to himself, guarding it, cherishing it and turned, following the broken sound of Jack's voice back towards the night.

* * *

“Ianto. Ianto. Wake up, please. I need you to wake up. Ianto—”

“Jack?” His voice was hoarse and strained, like he been screaming for a while. Thinking back, he had to wonder if he _had_ been screaming. He was pretty sure he was lying on the floor, his body one large terrible ache. There was a different sort of pain in his heart.

“Oh, thank God, Ianto, are you all right? Are you hurt? Can you sit up? Do you—”

He opened his eyes to see Jack bent over him, worry and fear clearly written on his face. Shakily, he reached up and placed a finger on Jack's mouth. “Sssh. It's fading away...” Ianto closed his eyes, trying to hold onto that feeling, that soul-deep accord, but the harder he tried, the tighter he grabbed, the faster the memory slipped out of his fingers. “It's almost gone...”

Ianto felt Jack wipe the tears from his face, crooning softly, “It's okay, Ianto, it's okay. Whatever it was, it's gone. You're okay. We're okay.” He let himself sink into the huskiness of Jack's voice and let his mind float away.

-fin-


End file.
